John 15v15-16: Jesus says: “You have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you to do that you may love one another!”
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2 Corinthians 5v15-17: “And if Jesus died for all, so that they which live should no longer live for themselves but for Him which died for them and rose again; then from here on we should no longer evaluate anyone according to their flesh. And in this regard, Christ is our example, for although we once knew him in the flesh, since his resurrection we no longer know him that way! Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new!”
These two scriptures are my personal challenges; to be humble before Christ, knowing I am saved by “the Blood of the Lamb”; not saved because of my own doings, but because He chose me and has ordained me to bring forth “fruit” that should endure. Yet to love my fellow man is not easy!
The Apostle Paul helps me when he speaks about the possibility of all men becoming new creations in Christ; and because I see Christ as my risen saviour; Paul tells me I ought to see my fellow man in the same way (and do it by faith). Paul encourages me to view everyone, not according to their fleshly ways; which is so easy for me to do; but to see and treat them as Christ sees them (be they “Christian” or not).
Surely I am charged with the responsibility of seeing others through the eyes of Christ?; to see their potential in Him rather than their disdain for me? I am to see them as risen up with me and my Lord Jesus.
It seems that God has designed life for us to find Him in the midst of our trials…. and Jesus is that treasure! And once we’ve discovered “the life giver”, our appreciation of Him and the preciousness of life itself will multiply endlessly in our hearts.
Post note: “Sadly and far too often we each evaluate others by how we feel about a matter rather than trying to understand their struggles. So let’s be determined to improve on our ‘report card’ day by day. Let’s always assume the bigger and sturdier position of ‘humbling ourselves before Almighty God in everything we do… for then and only then will God lend us His hand, lifting us up to where we belong…. ‘Soaring with the eagles; rather than scratching with the turkeys’!”
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